


The firefly boy (2nd star to the right)

by Rainbowknight_2



Category: Original Work
Genre: Abuse, Death, Gen, Physical Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 22:03:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6537913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbowknight_2/pseuds/Rainbowknight_2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An old fic I once wrote, a semi origin story of the 2nd star to the right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The firefly boy (2nd star to the right)

A long, long time ago, there was a little boy who lived in the forest. He spent all day outside. He ran through the meadows, climbed the trees and swam in the creek. He watched the animals and even played with some. His happiest time was when he was outside.  
But when the sun stood directly above the mountain's peak, he would rush back to the cabin where he lived. He would climb back through the open window, untied the sheets he used as a rope and placed them back on his bed. Once everything was back in place, he would sit in the corner and wait for the darkness to come. He hated those times. But he hated the wait more then what was to come.  
The light gently glided over his face through the now closed window, glowing like a dying fire. When the last rays of light vanished over the horizon, he felt more at ease. It wouldn't be long now. In the distance, he could already make out the faint glow of a lantern.  
  
Soon after, he heard the key turning. He stood up and walked toward his mother. He stared down at her feet. She told the boy to look up at her. He slowly looked up to her red and puffy eyes and the bruises on her arm. She slapped; him hard enough for him to fall over. He didn't get up. Why bother? It would only make things worse.  
Every night, his parents would come home after a hard day of work. His father would beat his mother before passing out drunk on the couch, and his mother would beat him in turn. She said it was his fault anyway. After a while, she would get enough of it and leave some food and water on the boy's desk. Locking the door behind her, she left him alone on the cold floor.  
He would wait and listen. He listened to the old staircase creak as she walked on it. When he heard her turn on the radio he would get up and eat his food. It was cold, but it always was.

He knew his parents never meant to have children and that she hated him for being born when he shouldn't have. He knew his existence was the only reason his father hadn't left her and she hated him for it. The boy would often wonder why grown-ups were so weird and what made think in such odd ways.  
  
But while he was thinking about all the strange things that made adults so strange, he noticed something from the corner of his eye. A little light that wasn't there before, just outside his window. He got out of bed and looked at the firefly that had landed on his balcony. He carefully observed the little bug. He rarely got to see one because he couldn't go outside at night. But something wasn't right. The little bug's light was rapidly dimming. And with one last little flicker it went out completely. The boy felt sad for the little bug.  
But he hadn't heard his mother coming up the stairs. He hadn't heard her turning the key. He only felt her hand, firmly pinching his arms. She shook him and asked why wasn't asleep yet. He apologized a thousand times over, promising that it would never happen again, but it was no use.  
  
The next morning, long after his parents had left, he would tie his bedsheets together again and climb out the window. But when he opened the window, he noticed the firefly was still there.

He carefully picked it up and put it in his pocket. He took the little bug to the old oak in the middle of the forest. He made a little hole and put the firefly inside. He picked a hibiscus from the meadow and placed it over the little grave. The boy then lay down in the soft grass.

He hadn't gotten any sleep last night, turning and tossing on the old hard mattress, trying to ignore the pain of his bruises. The warm summer sun was making him drowsy and soon he was fast asleep. When he woke up, the sun had already passed the peak and the boy rushed home. He climbed into his room, only to find his mother sitting on his bed. Of all the days for her to come home early.  
  
That night, the boy was lying on the cold floor. He didn't even have the strength left to crawl into bed. He closed his eyes, red and swollen from crying. He only opened them when a shimmer of light passed his face. He found a little firefly sitting on his nose. The creaking of a door startled him, but luckily it wasn't his mother. Instead, it came from his closet, a faint glow on the other side.

Sure enough, another firefly came through, followed by another and another and many more, until there were hundreds, no thousands of fireflies in the boy's room.  
He stared in awe and gathered all his strength to stand up. The little luminescent bugs began to swirl around him and he felt like he was flying. When he opened his eyes, he saw he was not only floating, he was glowing as well! From somewhere deep inside him, a light was burning.

A little light he didn't knew he had. And his pain was gone.  
  
The wind blew open the window and the fireflies guided him outside. They took him over the valley, over the mountain and even past the sea. The flew all over the world with him, showing him the most amazing sights. Beautiful waterfalls that roared like thunder, the dancing lights of the cold northen skies, shimmering shores of far away beaches. Cities bursting with life and noise. The deepest valleys and the highest mountains, he saw it all that night, riding on a stream of light.  
And then the fireflies took him higher and higher, up into the night. The world below grew smaller and smaller. And eventually he couldn't see it all anymore. But even if he could have seen it, he would have been too busy to look.

There was such wonder around him that in that one moment he completely forget the pain of the past. There were lights shooting past him like lighting, and the most amazing clouds of dust swirling all around in every color imaginable. But Suddenly the fireflies began to fade away. One by one they left. In an instant, they became so very distant, and so much brighter.  
Eventually there was only one firefly left. Holding onto the boy, it refused to let go. So the boy held it in his hands and thanked him for all the things he had seen that night. He had found something he hadn't known before. Something that was no inside of him as well.  
Hope.

A hope that is warm and bright and meaningful. And he wished , he wished with all his little heart that he could share that hope with other children. He wished he could spare them from growing up and world of grown up troubles. As the boy closed his hands, careful not to harm his little friend, it began to shine brighter than anything the boy had ever seen. He closed his eyes and felt how warm the light was in his little hands. The warmth and the light began to spread to the boy until they both shined brighter than the sun.  
  
The next day, the boy's mother stormed out of the house, furious that her son had disappeared again.

She ran off into a thick fog, her husband following right behind her. Two weeks later, some of the people in the village grew anxious and went to look for them. But they couldn't find a single trace. And where the cabin should have been, there was only a field of hibiscus.  
And no one really noticed that the night sky had changed just a little. No one quite realized it, but they could feel it. Especially the lost children that looked up into the night sky. They could feel a shimmer of hope.

A dream about a distant place without the troubles of the adult world.

Their hearts would become a little lighter and a little brighter whenever they saw that star.

The second star to the right.

**Author's Note:**

> I know, it wasn't that good, but eh, I wanted to post it, so here it is.


End file.
